Yeast Cake

[pmolou]

ok so iv got a yeast cake under my house i plan on using still in the fermentor with the airlock how long can i let it sit its i racked off my beer on thursday and wont be able to brew my next beer till monday??? is this ok any suggestions

 

[Frank]

Why don't you scoop out enough for your next brew. Put it in the fridge, and clean your fermenter.

 

[flattop]

Hmm thats a tough one, i've never left the cake on it's own. I would consider a couple of liters of boiled, cooled water sitting on top to keep it moist.
I cant think that drying it out would be a good thing. Or if you want to keep it ticking over pour a beer or 2 on top!

 

[staggalee]

Boston`s reply is probably the best way to go, but it`s an interesting question...how long can it be left in the fermenter before pictching on top again, the last yeast I used was Nottingham and the dry crud it left on the fermenter walls was 5-10 mill. thick. So you wouldn`t want to pitch onto that!!

stagga.

edit: or would you? Others have pitched onto full yeast cakes without mention of the associated crud that goes with it.

 

[NeilArge]

ok so iv got a yeast cake under my house i plan on using still in the fermentor with the airlock how long can i let it sit its i racked off my beer on thursday and wont be able to brew my next beer till monday??? is this ok any suggestions

I pitched onto a yeast cake from a SN Anniversary Ale clone, brewed with WY 1056, about a month ago. I left the yeastcake under airlock and undisturbed for nearly a week before pitching a Dr Smurto GA clone on top of it. It was bubbling through the fermenter within two hours of pitching the wort and fermented from OG of 1.056 down to 1.008 within 3 days! And it's a lovely beer. In short, it should be okay - just leave it as is. Any longer, and I'd certainly follow Boston's advice.

Best of luck

ToG

 

[NeilArge]

I pitched onto a yeast cake from a SN Anniversary Ale clone, brewed with WY 1056, about a month ago. I left the yeastcake under airlock and undisturbed for nearly a week before pitching a Dr Smurto GA clone on top of it. It was bubbling through the fermenter within two hours of pitching the wort and fermented from OG of 1.056 down to 1.008 within 3 days! And it's a lovely beer. In short, it should be okay - just leave it as is. Any longer, and I'd certainly follow Boston's advice.

Best of luck

ToG

Actually staggalee raises an important point. There was a lot trub left over in that yeastcake I pitched onto. And the GA clone I tipped onto it would have certainly picked up some of the hop characters of the previous beer. But seeing as the previous beer was lavishly hopped with Chinook, Cascade and Centenniel I don't think that would do any harm to the next beer. Different matter if you were going to tip a wheat beer onto it perhaps.

ToG

 

[flattop]

Personally i like to harvest the cake, refrigerate, skim off the beer, refrigerate then re-use.
Gives me a chance to sterilize the fermenter.
Can't say i am a big fan of re-using a fermenter with a dried Krausen ring all round it.

But i know of people who just re-pitch on top all the time so.... horses for courses....

 

[NeilArge]

Personally i like to harvest the cake, refrigerate, skim off the beer, refrigerate then re-use.
Gives me a chance to sterilize the fermenter.
Can't say i am a big fan of re-using a fermenter with a dried Krausen ring all round it.

But i know of people who just re-pitch on top all the time so.... horses for courses....

My normal practice is to do what you do, flattop. But with the stars falling into alignment, with beer bottled and enthusiasm to brew again without waiting for a starter to get going, I thought I'd see how this worked. I'd have to say that I was amazed with the results.

Horses of courses as you say.

Cheers

ToG

 

[staggalee]

Personally i like to harvest the cake, refrigerate, skim off the beer, refrigerate then re-use.
Gives me a chance to sterilize the fermenter.
Can't say i am a big fan of re-using a fermenter with a dried Krausen ring all round it.

But i know of people who just re-pitch on top all the time so.... horses for courses....

Agreed re the krausen ring... I don`t think you`d want to repitch onto a full Nottingham yeast cake. If you`d seen the inside of my fermenter, it looked as tho someone with acute and severe diahhrea had parked their arse on top of it with the lid off.
30 minutes to clean the dry crud off.
Love the Nottingham tho. :icon_cheers:

stagga.

 

[flattop]

Agreed, brewing time is hard to come by this summer, i bottled yesterday, damn hard to get 90mins free for cleaning bottles and capping.
I swear next time i will batch prime, some of the crown seal bottles i got don't really let the priming scoop in properly and my 5 kilo bag of dex i found to be clumpy (first time ive had that problem)

 

[staggalee]

Agreed, brewing time is hard to come by this summer, i bottled yesterday, damn hard to get 90mins free for cleaning bottles and capping.
I swear next time i will batch prime, some of the crown seal bottles i got don't really let the priming scoop in properly and my 5 kilo bag of dex i found to be clumpy (first time ive had that problem)

Use widemouth funnel, 5g. teaspoon and caster sugar.
I wouldn`t gin around with bulk priming if you paid me
2 minutes to single prime 30 bottles

stagga.

 

[NeilArge]

Agreed re the krausen ring... I don`t think you`d want to repitch onto a full Nottingham yeast cake. If you`d seen the inside of my fermenter, it looked as tho someone with acute and severe diahhrea had parked their arse on top of it with the lid off.
30 minutes to clean the dry crud off.
Love the Nottingham tho. :icon_cheers:

stagga.

Mmmm. Perhaps the 'Toilet Duck' mob should move into the fermenter cleaner market. I'll never look at a toilet bowl again in the same way... :lol:

ToG

 

[staggalee]

If they saw this one as their first contract, they`d have reneged.

stagga.

 

[flattop]

I've been known to grab the domestos when i am cleaning my fermenter in the shower (has one of those shower heads on a hose and an power blast setting)

 

[staggalee]

Tunof, who`s your avatar? Got it in the back of my mind, can`t quite get it.

stagga.

 

[NeilArge]

I've been known to grab the domestos when i am cleaning my fermenter in the shower (has one of those shower heads on a hose and an power blast setting)

Not a dunny brush as well? :lol:

 

[NeilArge]

Tunof, who`s your avatar? Got it in the back of my mind, can`t quite get it.

stagga.

Hi stagga

That guy is Mark E. Smith, lead singer of The Fall, probably my favourite overall band. He's as mad as a cut snake, and this is a tv grab of him behaving very strangely during an nationally-televised interview (in the UK) about the death of John Peel.

Cheers

ToG (aka Neil)

 

[staggalee]

oh right. {but that`s not who I thought it was}....walks away scratching head

stagga.

 

[NeilArge]

oh right. {but that`s not who I thought it was}....walks away scratching head

stagga.

Sorry stagga. I had a funny feeling that might not have helped. I can't help on who else you might think it is.

Best,

Neil

 

[pmolou]

well the cake can last atleast 4 days by my experiment.

got my belgian chugging away @ 22 bubbling every secomd or so